Maintenance Adventures - Day 79 to 80 - St Petersburg, FL

We set Monday (12/20) aside for some serious engine maintenance.  Sean from Cummins arrived at 8:00 AM and spent the entire day performing the 250 hour maintenance service.  Sean changed oil, oil filters, fuel filters, Raycor filters, impellers and zincs in the engines and generator; oil and filters in the transmissions; and cleaned the air seps on both engines and all sea strainers.   Sean also discovered a water leak in the port engine raw water pump ($1,300 for the part) and I opted to have it replaced.  He also pointed out oil leaks (actually weeps and seeps) in the front seal, oil pan and ____________.  These will have to be dealt with at some point and probably involve a day and a half of labor.  Total cost for today's services were $3,900.

Tuesday (12/21), the first day of winter, the weather was perfect for the waxing the boat (sunny and 50+ degrees).  Brian and Jack from SCI Marine arrived at 8:00 AM and began the task, which involved washing the boat and then waxing the hull, the topsides and the stainless steel railings.  They completed the task at 3:30 PM.  Total cost $575, which was very fair considering I pay $700 for the same service in Chicago.

The photo cannot do the wax job justice

During the afternoon we visited the Dali Museum, which is located on the waterfront a mile and a half from the boat.  The museum houses 96 original Dali paintings collected by A. Reynolds and Eleanor Morse over a 30 years span.  The Morse's bought their first Dali and 1943 for $1,200 (and then spent 1,800 to get it framed).  The Morse's ultimately became close friends with Dali.

What's particularly interesting is how this collection wound up in St Petersburg.  The short story involves estate taxes.  When the collection was appraised, the Morse's realized that they could not pass the collection to their sun intact (i.e., some of the paintings would have to sold to pay estate taxes).  The Morse's then decided to donate the collection to a major art museum.  However, no museum would take the collection intact.  All wanted to cherry pick it and sell off the rest.  The Morse's (of Cleveland) wanted to keep it intact.  Turns out the city fathers of St Petersburg saw an opportunity and as a result this fantastic collection resides here.  Note: In 20 days they open a new facility, which will be able to display the entire collection.

As is our custom, we took advantage of the Guided Tour, which proved to be helpful in understanding Dali's work.  Unfortunately, they do not allow photos.  I offer one example, Slave Market with Disappearing Bust of Voltaire (1940) to show Dali's genius.  Click on the link and see if you can see the double image.

The Dali Museum

Marina adjacent to the Dali Museum

Tomorrow we move on Sarastoa to visit with our friends Ron and Linda Markovits.  Ron and I worked together at The Warranty Group and retired on the same day (March 31, 2010).  We will miss St Petersburg.

Our view from the cockpit

Written by Les.